30 years

I was watching my students on the unit this morning and recalled that Andy and I met 30 years ago this month.
Yes, it was during that dreaded July in the hospital (when med students become interns and interns become residents).
Andy, just out of his internship and coming to neurology for his first month of his internal medicine residency walked onto my unit and I thought, "I could fall in love with this guy."
We developed a friendship, he briefly dated a colleague of mine until he came to his senses and asked me out.
I was starting my second year as a staff nurse at the University of Iowa, and we conferred on patients for the three months he was on neurology. I'm not sure when we started dating--it was still warm as we went sailing on our second date.
We no longer work together, but remain good sounding boards to discuss patients. He is a senior attending and I am a clinical faculty member and hospice nurse.
Thirty years and still enjoying our careers and each other!

verdant backing

I used up large prints with green--there are some bunnies on one side.
For the Florabunda quilt.

yellows

The yellow bag yielded:
The incentive project: Bonnie Hunter's Florabunda.
Use: used up a bunch on the Florabunda; also used up lots of florals
Throw away: very little--these fabrics were in good shape
Share: Cousin Jan's bag got A LOT added to it with
prints that I know I will not use, and fabrics that I will use, just not as much as I had, so I tore them in half and put a piece in the bag.
Donate: fabric which is too awful to hand off to Jan. My friend Jeanette will be using this with her high school students
Stash return pile: cut into 6 1/2, 3 1/2, 2 1/2, 2, and 1 1/2 inch strips and just a few pieces to go back on the shelf
All from a 13 gallon kitchen garbage bag.

I did have to dip into the share/donate bag to get yellows for the border fabric for the quilt, and that lead to many thoughts of "Why did I give this one away?"
Note to self: do not look into the bags once you put something in there.

On to the large florals:
Since the incentive project lead to the need for florals, I did start on that next bag (actually, they were in a basket) So, time to finish getting the large florals in order.
Incentive project: a backing for the Florabunda.

Eve

Found this photo on my camera from Eve's birthday several months ago.
She is in Shanghai as an au pair and working on her Mandarin.
(the cake was red velvet from Bittersweet)

florabunda

It's big.
It's yellow.
It's ugly--but in that good way.

Thanks to Bonnie Hunter, who has unleashed yellow quilt fever around the country, I have completed this Jacob's Ladder top. All from stash.
About 87 by 87 inches.
(yes, I see that I flipped a triangle in the second block on the bottom row.)

on to the yellows

The neutral bag (there may be another neutral bag in there too) has been sorted and yielded:
The incentive project: the 5-patch top
Use: made 3 quilt backs from larger pieces
Throw away: fabric that I did not like how it felt when I used it in the past, or it has not held up well in quilts, or, saddest of all, it did not hold up well just sitting on the shelf
Share: this has been claimed by my cousin Jan who I did not even know read my blog; knowing she wants fabric makes it easier to let it go.
Donate: fabric which is too awful to hand off to Jan.
Stash return pile: cut into 6 1/2, 3 1/2, 2 1/2, 2, and 1 1/2 inch strips and about a dozen larger pieces to go back on the shelf
All from a 13 gallon kitchen garbage bag.

The next bag I opened had yellows, so I guess I will be joining Bonnie Hunter with her Florabunda.
As I told her, it is turning out ugly, but in that good way.

5 patch top

32 strip blocks, 31 five-patch blocks, finish at 7 1/2 inches. All made from 2 inch cut strips and squares.
All the dark squares are from plaid shirts. The lights are mainly old neutrals, with a few shirts too.
Borders cut 6 1/2 inches.
It made a nice dent in the neutrals bag. I am using up a lot of old VIP, Cranston, and Peter Pan tiny prints on the back of this one and for the courthouse steps quilt.

five patch

Scaled down from a pattern in Kim Schaefer's Cozy Modern Quilts that had 10 inch blocks.
My blocks finish to 7 1/2 inches.
Strip block: 5 strips cut 2 inches by 8 inches
5 patch block: 13 dark squares, 12 light squares

I am on a mission to sort through fabric that was bagged up in the attic when we re-roofed. My incentive is I get to come up with a new project with what is inside each. This quilt was inspired by the neutrals bag.
I sort into use, stash, share, donate, and throw out.

courthouse top complete

I am going to keep it without borders.
Measures about 64 by 80.

courthouse steps

When the 1 1/2 inch strip drawer needs taming, it is time to make a log cabin.
8 inch finished block made from 2 1/2 inch cut center, rounds cut from 1 1/2 inch strips at 2 1/2, 4 1/2, 6 1/2, and 8 1/2.
I have 40 blocks made, 40 more to go.

quilted and bound

Serendipity snakes with the 2 inch scrap strips.
I quilted this myself with the walking foot.
Bound with four leftover binding scraps.
46 by 59 inches.

S quilt

Seth loved the H quilt I made for my mother, and I recalled Wanda Hansen, in showing how she came up with her H pattern based it on Kaffe's S pattern--so, I went back to the beginning.
I love the secondary design of the backgrounds.
Blocks finish 7 1/2 inches.
Background: two rectangles 6 1/2 inches by 2 inches
Print: three rectangles 8 inches by 2 inches, two squares 2 by 2 inches

Need to make a pile more blocks.

serendipity snakes

There is a method of sewing up strips that I've done for quite a while that is showing up on the web as a way to use purchased strips.
I have taught this as the "snake" method of patchwork.
I use this method to clean up a pile of neglected strips, usually the ones that I leave behind because they are not inspiring me.
Take a pile of strips and sew them together to make a long (very long) snake. (I use straight edge piecing as I think it has a more primitive look--I see many people mitering.)
Take the head of the snake and the tail of the snake and sew them together along the sides to make a snake two strips wide. (You will need to cut the fold that occurs at the new tail of the snake. It may twist in your sewing--that is ok, just cut it before you get to the end to untangle it.)
Again, take the head and the tail and sew them together to make a snake 4 strips wide.
Repeat to 8; repeat to 16, repeat to 32, etc. You can stop at any number and use the panel as fabric and cut it to what you want.
This delightful top came from my two inch light strips drawer. Again, short pieces I had passed over many times come together with serendipity to make something wonderful.
Click serendipity snakes label below to some other examples of my use of this method.

Japan 1989

in which teacher gifts are prepared and a fire-breathing elephant is displayed

Papier-mâché by Seth.

Knitting by Lynn

trees bearing fruit

And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47:12
Seth's school is going to be part of a consolidated school next year and the PTO asked me to help the students make a commemorative quilt for this final year as an independent school.
I chose the verse from Ezekiel for inspiration and sketched out a plan.
My friend Mary Pellauer generously offered her Shiva iridescent paint sticks. I used Kona Cotton solid in Celery for the panels and batiks from my shelves for the setting pieces.
Another mother  helped me organize the children--which made me realize that teaching college age is a lot easier that elementary children.
Each tree drawing is a jewel. I love how the age groups change in how they write their names and depict their trees. I was glad there were redbuds and pear and apple trees along the block all in full bloom. I had the children look out the window to see that all trees are not green.
Suzette Fisher did the quilting and I finished the binding this morning. We put it up in the school entrance and it was a delight to watch the children find their trees.

a thirteen year old celebrates Mother's Day

made with flowers from our yard

hanging chads

I have been enjoying the results of the rather mindless sewing of these little blocks based on one by Judy Laquidera of Patchwork Times. http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/05/03/brown-quilt-finished/
I am making my blocks much smaller (I think her original is 9 inches), and LOTS of them. I switched the square to the left top to add a bit of tension.
I am pleased with how it is coming along and can’t get over how much it looks like the punch card ballots we used here in Cook County for many years. They are similar to the cards in Florida that led to the infamous “hanging chad” problem with the 2000 election recount. I hesitate to use “Hanging Chad” for the name of the quilt, being the originator of the block has a son named Chad. I guess it is better than naming it “Pregnant Chad”, another problem they had in Florida.
Judy says go ahead and we just won't tell Chad.

bordello bargello quilted

I had this top on hand when a neighbor asked for a donation for a fundraiser for his political campaign. (He won! I have an alderman on the block!)

Another neighbor bought it at the silent auction so it stays on LeClaire.
Suzette Fisher quilted it beautifully.
And, I found a great backing fabric.
Find how to make this quilt on Bonnie Hunter's quiltville.
(Oh, and the spell check Bordello Bargello name is particularly apt as we have had a influx of "massage parlors" in the neighborhood and will be on my list of topics to bring to the attention of our new alderman.)

16 patch top

I love how this top came together. I flipped a few of the blocks around as the quiltmaker did in the antique piece.

second H quilt

The second H quilt, this one for my niece Hannah (love those palindrome names).
I need to get it bound for her high school graduation.

housework elevated

I have a day home today and am trying to pull together several half-started cleaning projects. To keep me going, I have Brahm's A German Requium on loud enough to follow me around the house (and probably as far as the neighbors too).
Several years ago, when he was our seminary intern, Greg Sabetta (now pastor of Edgebrook Community Church/UCC--check out a service if you are nearby!) led a six week  lenten study on the Requium. He brought in history and music theory along with scripture and what was going on in Brahms world to give us a deeper understanding of the message of the piece.
Ever since I have made a point of making the Requium part of my lenten journey. My old tape finally gave way (along with our tape deck) and I got a new CD this year of Solti's 1979 CSO recording.
Thank you, Greg, for enriching my life.

sixteen patches

I am pleased with how the 16 patches are coming along.